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Dirt Culture - Issue 2
By Adam Grijalva
Hazzard Hotrods is actually the mighty Guided by
Voices in disguise. This vinyl-only release contains
an impromptu live set recorded in the back of a video
store over ten years ago. The recording is actually
not that bad considering that it was done most likely
on a boombox, but since when does anyone care if
there's tape hiss or mysterious voices floating around
in the background on a GbV record anyway? The songs
on Big Trouble do not sound like your typical
GbV-fare, but you still know it's them from the get
go. "A Farewell to Arms" sounds like a rawer,
punked-up version of Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's
"Refugee", while "Big Trouble" is a seemingly
never-ending hillbilly romp. Another track worth
mentioning is "Sabotage", which just might bring a
tear to your eye if you didn't know it was just a very
drunk Pollard and not some out of work, down on his
luck factory worker. By the time you read this, you
may find this release already sold out, as many of the
Fading Captain vinyl releases tend to do, but if
you're lucky you can still snag one. This is really
what GbV and rock and roll has always been about -
just getting together with some friends, drinking like
there's no tomorrow, plugging in and rocking out until
the sun comes up, or until you just can't stand up
anymore, which I've heard still doesn't always stop
Pollard from belting out another encore or two. It's
raw, it's fun, and it's fuckin G-b-fuckin-V!